External Territorial Threats and Military Regimes

Abstract

This study argues that sustained threats to homeland territory create an environment conducive to the presence of military regimes. Territorial threats lead to increased levels of militarization and make the military internally unified and cohesive. These developments enhance the military’s capacity for intervening in politics where a strong and autonomous military serves as an institutionalized veto player. Accordingly, collegial military regimes, characterized by a group of high-ranking officers and distinct from military strongman rule in which power is concentrated in the hands of a single military leader, are likely to exist in environments rife with territorial threats. Supporting my argument, I find that a country is more likely to experience collegial military rule when it engages in rivalries or claims over territorial issues.